B2B Marketing News: Top Enterprise Firm Challenges, What B2B Buyers Want, Mobile Ad-Buy Shift, & LinkedIn’s Content Trends

What B2B Buyers Want From Tech Vendors Right Now 55 percent of B2B buyers say it's appropriate for marketing efforts to continue during these challenging times, and 53 percent are presently in the market for B2B products and services, with most of those having recent new purchasing interests, according to newly-released survey data. MarketingProfs Programmatic Ad Spend Down 9% Since Beginning of 2020, Driven by Travel and Auto Amidst an overall fall of 9 percent in April, ad spending for the technology vertical and the education and training segment were up 70 percent and 63 percent for the year, with streaming ad spend also up by some 18 percent, according to recently-released report data. Adweek Exclusive: New York Times phasing out all 3rd-party advertising data The New York Times has begun eliminating all third-party advertising targeting information, and by July the firm will instead use a fully-proprietary platform, the company recently announced. Axios Google’s digital-ad dominance is harming marketers and publishers, says new study Digital marketers and publishers have been hurt as a result of Google's online advertising dominance, according to a new study, with display ads the primary focus of the Omidyar Network and Public Knowledge report. AdAge Reddit Launches New, 12-Week Online Advertising School Program Social news and discussion platform Reddit has launched a three-month online community-driven advertising school program, led by director-level-or-above instructors covering 12 marketing topics, the firm recently announced. Social Media Today Polls Return to Messenger From Facebook. After a year’s absence Facebook Messenger polls have been brought back Digital marketers lamenting the elimination of Facebook's Messenger polls a year ago got good news recently, as the social media giant announced that it has brought the polling option back for group chats. Adweek Pandemic hastens shift in ad buying to mobile, study says During an overall drop in ad spending, mobile ad spend has fared the best, as its 15 percent decrease was less than the 25 percent seen for desktop ad buying, according to recently-released study data. Mobile Marketer Facebook Launches New App Called 'CatchUp' to Facilitate Group Phone Chats Facebook recently released a tool to help bring online conversations to real-time phone communications, with the lanch of CatchUp, becomming Facebook’s sixth new app release in the past half year, the firm announced. Social Media Today Enterprise Companies Struggle with Customer Experience Tasks Real-time insights, personalization, and consistent data formatting are the top three customer experience (CX) challenges for enterprise firms, according to recently-released study data. MarketingCharts LinkedIn Publishes New Guide to Key Content Trends Amid COVID-19 LinkedIn (client) has released new information about trending content on the Microsoft-owned platform, with top trending hashtags and other information of interest to digital marketers, the firm announced. Social Media Today ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “the new normal” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist Whoooaaa Duuuuude: Why We Stretch Words in Tweets and Texts — Wired TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — 20 Marketing Experts on Content that Helps Sales Reps Sell - Part 3 — Modus
• Nick Nelson — 10 Ways to Improve Your Business While Working Remotely — Small Business Trends
• Lee Odden — Klear interviews Lee Odden — John Gaylor
• Lee Odden — Stop the Sales Drop: Marketing Shifts For Stronger Growth — Marketing Insider Group
• Lee Odden — PIMtalk with Lee Odden: PIM, SEO, Content Marketing and B2B influencers [Video] — PIMTalk Podcast
• Lee Odden — 5 Smart Tips for Managing the WFH Transition in Marketing — monday.com (client)
• Ashley Zeckman — Ashley Zeckman: 5 Essential Questions to Guide Your B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy — Content Marketing World
• Lee Odden — “Stop the Sales Drop” Launches Sales and Marketing Peer Group — Business Wire
• Lee Odden — How to boost SEO flow like a pro during COVID-19 — PR Daily
• Lee Odden — Interview with Lee Odden – Breaking Free of Status Quo Marketing Tactics — Stop the Sales Drop
• Lee Odden — Marketing Through Uncertain Times – 15 Experts Share Insights — Insight Brief
• Lee Odden — Empathetic content marketing falls flat without authenticity [Video] — Search Engine Land
• Lee Odden — How to measure content KPIs during COVID [Video] — Search Engine Land
• Lee Odden — How to evaluate content marketing opportunities during COVID [Video] — Search Engine Land
• Lee Odden — What’s Trending: Fortify the Fundamentals — LinkedIn (client)

Have you come across your own top B2B content marketing or digital advertising stories from the past week of news? Please let us know in the comments below. Thank you for joining us this week, and we hope that you will return again next Friday for more of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news. Also, don't miss the full video summary on our TopRank Marketing TV YouTube Channel.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/05/b2b-marketing-news-top-enterprise-firm.html

20 Marketing Jokes for Marketers Working from Home

I’m not here to lie to you: Sheltering in place is getting pretty old.  I do count my blessings, of course. My family and I are healthy. My wife and I both can work from home; our kids are pretty great; we actually enjoy each others’ company.  Still. There are only so many loaves of bread you can bake, puzzles you can solve, board games you can play before the ennui sets in.  If you’re like me, you could use a laugh right now. And I need to exercise my comedy muscles before they atrophy. And in a world where people are still writing articles called, “Should You Include Humor in Your B2B Content,” we need constant reminders that people like jokes. People like to laugh. Laughter brings you closer to your audience and creates a connection. Not that any of these jokes will make you laugh, of course — but I’ve heard that a smile and a groan is almost as good for you.

20 More Jokes Only a Marketer Could Love

1:

Q: How many agile marketers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: Three: A scrum master, a product owner, and a one-man development team. After a weeklong sprint, they deliver a candle, and then iterate from there.

2:

I named my dog “Organic Reach on Facebook.” I don’t have a dog.

3:

We’re testing an influencer program where you can sponsor the cool kids in a high school to promote your product. We call it “pay per clique.”

4:

Knock, knock! Who’s there? Automated personalization! Automated personalization, who? %First_Name, we miss you! Hope things are good in %City.

5:

I hired an ex-marketer to remodel my bathroom. But he couldn’t get the shower dimensions right, because he was only interested in vanity measurements.

6:

I just consulted on a popular spice company’s website. My sage advice was that they needed to increase their thyme on page.

7:

Q: Why did the salmon make a great social media marketer? A: He had years of experience in live streams.

8:

It’s not that I don’t have that many Twitter followers… I’m just practicing social media distancing.

9:

No matter where I am, Google Maps only recommends businesses from a single town in Alabama. I don’t think this is how Mobile-first indexing is supposed to work.

10:

Apparently there’s a new marketing band called SEO Speedwagon. I couldn’t find them on Google, but I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another...

11:

Working from home is weird. I got so sick of sitting at my desk, I wrote my last blog from my kids’ trampoline. The time-on-page was pretty good, but the bounce rate was really high.

12:

I’m not saying he’s a clueless marketer, but I asked for more evergreen content and he wrote a blog about Christmas trees.

13:

Knock, knock! Who’s there? Indies! Indies, who? Indies uncertain times, our brand wants you to know that we care...

14:

Did you hear that Instagram is finally being localized for the U.S. market? It’s rebranding as “Insta .035724 Ounces.”

15:

The CEO at my old job was so clueless about social media… How clueless was he? He thought you had to be looking off to one side for your profile picture!

16:

How many clickbait content writers does it take to change a lightbulb? Only five, but number four will shock you!

17:

My kids hate hearing we’re having leftovers for dinner. So now I call it “Repurposed, snackable content.”

18:

Why did the marketer steal groceries from Whole Foods? She knows you don’t pay for anything organic.

19:

My buddy recently lost his job doing marketing for one of those serial-killer podcasts. He probably shouldn’t have suggested user-generated content.

20:

Q: Why does the social media marketer keep getting off the elevator at the wrong floor? A: He’s still trying to figure out Stories.

The Value of a Joke

Content marketers know that great content offers value to the reader. We tend to think of that value as something inspirational or educational. But let’s not overlook entertainment value. If your content provides a brief distraction from the everyday, that’s valuable. That’s something that people need...  and Indies uncertain times, we need it more than ever. And if you’re in the market for 60 more jokes about marketing, we’ve got you covered:

• 20 More Dumb Jokes for Smart Marketers
• 20 Jokes Only a B2B Marketer Will Get
• 20 Jokes Only a Marketer Could Love

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/05/20-marketing-jokes-for-marketers.html

Hyperspace: 5 Surprising Marketing Lessons From ’80s Arcade Games

What can marketers in 2020 learn from the low-resolution stand-up video arcade games of the 1980s? Here are five surprisingly-modern marketing lessons that we can learn from and implement today, with roots that come directly from vintage ‘80s arcade games. Slap that fire button and let's warp ahead and take a nostalgic look back at a simpler time in both video gaming and marketing, and then hyperspace ahead to today's vastly different landscape.

1 — Defender: Fire & Forget for a Constant Content Cadence

[caption id="attachment_28500" align="alignnone" width="600"] Photo by Author[/caption] Williams Electronics’ Defender is my all-time favorite stand-up video arcade game, an insidiously difficult side-scrolling spaceship-protecting-the-world shooting match juggernaut from 1981 programmed by early video game legend Eugene Jarvis. I played Defender so much that I eventually won a local video game competition, and can still almost feel where I had callouses on my hands from hour upon hour of game-play long ago. Defender teaches marketers the importance of keeping up a steady cadence of publishing content. In the case of Defender, the entire universe depended on firing off never-ending shots to protect humanoid figures from a variety of swiftly-moving alien invaders, while for marketers our success depends on keeping our content marketing fire buttons active to stave off audience abandonment and ghosting. Smart content marketing features a steady publication of relevant information and best-answer content, which may not save the universe, but when done right can hold your audience’s attention and gain new customers, fans and followers through engaging content.

2 — Robotron: Find Marketing Order in a Sea of Content Chaos

Officially Robotron: 2084, this 1982 Williams 2D multi-directional shooting game also primarily developed by Eugene Jarvis is my second-favorite video game, another intensely challenging dive into a strange alien world populated by a colorful array of 8-bit digital baddies. Robotron teaches marketers the importance of perseverance in what can at first seem like a stormy sea of digital content chaos. Robotron’s game-play involves protecting the last humans in the universe as an intimidating collection of serious alien killing machines try to do away with the humans and — especially — you. Marketers similarly can easily feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of social media platforms, digital asset creation apps, and the vast amount of data surrounding the content being published. Making sense of it all takes time and a concerted effort to learn what can at first seem to be an alien landscape, which can be done when you:

• Find out what your audience wants and the questions they’re asking
• Learn new tactics through online events and from podcasts
• Keep up with marketing industry changes

3 — Donkey Kong: Take Your Marketing to “Triple Elevators” Success

via GIPHY An entirely different flavor of ‘80s arcade game is Nintendo’s 1981 hit Donkey Kong, a deceptively simple multi-level platform game with such staying power in our culture that it is still making news in 2020, as the game’s previous world record high-score holder Billy Mitchell — who featured prominently in the cult indie hit King of Kong documentary — has filed a defamation lawsuit. In Donkey Kong, an angry gorilla hurls barrels of death and other colorful impediments in the path of your player Mario — a character who debuted here, originally called Mr. Video and later Jumpman. Screen after screen bring newfound challenges in the game, culminating with a stage featuring intricately-timed elevators and then a diabolical conveyor belt challenge. Donkey Kong teaches marketers that successfully avoiding obstacles can take a brand from the humblest beginning to the loftiest heights, especially when it comes to social media marketing. Unlike Defender and Robotron, which each have many random and free-form movement elements and options, Donkey Kong instead can teach marketers the value of learning a particular industry’s unique facts to drive success in a known social media environment. Educate your marketing Mario by dedicating the time to learn the details of each social media platform your brand is using or plans to have a presence on. We’ve written a number of recent articles exploring the latest social media firm marketing features and platform maneuvers, including these:

• Should B2B Marketers Embrace Ephemeral Content?
• 6 Unconventional Social Channels for B2B Marketing
• Active Social Media Listening: Tips for a New Era of COVID-19
• 32 Top Social Media Marketing Influencers To Follow
• 13 Top B2B Social Media Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020

[bctt tweet="“Successfully avoiding obstacles can take a brand from the humblest beginning to the loftiest heights.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

4 — Crystal Castles: Gather Gems & Avoid Tone-Deaf Marketing

Atari’s 1983 arcade game Crystal Castles is another favorite filled with its own marketing lessons even all these years later. Controlled by a trackball and jump buttons, Crystal Castles sees the player maneuvering a bear around towering castles while picking up enticing gems and avoiding evil trees and dangerous bees. When released, its bright, colorful graphics and catchy sounds and music — along with level graphics that flew onto and off of the screen accompanied by a tune based on Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite in a way never seen or heard before — enticed many including myself to repeatedly insert quarters and learn the peculiarities of each castle level. Crystal Castles teaches content marketers to walk that fine and arduous line between picking up a trail of brand success gems and becoming overly confident and getting ensnared by nasty trees or dancing skeletons in the form of tone deaf marketing. A while back for Content Marketing World we even published a retro game themed Ultimate Guide to Conquering Content Marketing.

5 — Black Widow: A Vector-Based Web of Influencer Marketing

Atari’s Black Widow hit the video arcade scene in 1982, and was among the first vector-graphic stand-up arcade cabinets. Players control a black widow spider on its colorful web and during the game must ward off certain insects including mosquitoes, hornets, and beetles, while attracting others using the help of other insects, all the while working to prevent foes from laying eggs. In 1982 a vector-graphics game stood out at the arcade due to the vast contrast between the darkest black pixels and the fine line-based graphics, offering a welcome escape from the standard bitmap imagery in the majority of arcade games. Black Widow teaches marketers the importance of working together with others to achieve success beyond what can be attained alone, such as when implementing an always-on influencer marketing program. Always-on influencer marketing is the practice of ongoing relationship-building, engagement and activation of a specified group of influencers to build community, content and brand advocacy. In Black Widow the spider works with other insects to rid its web of enemies, and in marketing brands can find great success working with industry influencers on the web of 2020 to gain reach and engagement that can far exceed what a single marketer or team can achieve. B2B influencer marketing is a specialty of TopRank Marketing, with several recent articles looking at this growing practice including these:

• Always On Influence: Definition and Why B2B Brands Need it to Succeed
• Always-On Influence: 5 Examples of Ongoing B2B Influencer Marketing In Action
• Why SEO & Influence are Critical to Pandemic Era Content Marketing
• 10 Worst Practices for B2B Influencer Marketing – Don’t be a Clown
• The B2B Marketing Force Multiplier: Integrated SEO and Influencer Marketing

Going From Game Over To Setting Marketing High Scores

via GIPHY The challenges today’s marketers face are vastly different from those when Defender, Robotron, Donkey Kong, Crystal Castles and Black Widow came out in the early ‘80s, however despite these difficulties there’s also never been a more opportunity-filled playing field, thanks to the vast online publishing possibilities of 2020. Implementing a successful marketing program takes time, effort, and dedicated strategy, which leads many brands to use a top B2B influencer marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing, which was the only B2B marketing agency offering influencer marketing as a top capability in Forrester’s “B2B Marketing Agencies, North America” report.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/05/hyperspace-5-surprising-marketing.html

Break Free B2B Marketing: “Webinerd” Mark Bornstein of ON24 on Dialing In Digital Experiences

Like many other digital experiences, the webinar has traditionally been viewed as a means to an end: Create something that seems valuable to your audience, and use it as a vehicle to acquire contact information for lead generation purposes. But marketers like Mark Bornstein take a different angle: What if we view the webinar itself as an end — an extremely valuable marketing tool on its own? What if we’re just muddying it up with all these mandatory form-fills and sales-y follow-ups? “You need the name once, you need the demographic information one time,” he observes. “But why do we keep putting forms together again and again? What matters is the experience.” [bctt tweet="“Why do we keep putting lead gen forms together again and again? What matters is the experience.” — @4markb on #BreakFreeB2B #DigitalExperiences" username="toprank"] Mark elaborates: “It's the experience you give, it's the way you're able to connect and interact with audiences that matters. Because that's where you're going to get the real data. That's where you're going to learn a lot about them.” Although he is a proud marketer, and VP of Marketing for the webinar solution provider ON24, this self-professed “webinerd,” Mark urges his fellow practitioners to develop a new mindset by moving away from traditional terminologies: “It's not about marketing anymore. It's about connecting people to your brand. It's relationship-building.” The days of dry, facelessly narrated slide presentations are gone, he argues. We need to dial in and focus on human connections through authenticity, empathy, and compassion. We need to learn more about our customers than how we can contact them with follow-up promotional materials. At a time where physical events and meetings are off the table, achieving these connections in the digital space via experiential marketing has never been more vital. In his 25-minute conversation with TopRank Marketing’s Susan Misukanis at B2B Marketing Exchange in February, Mark shared a wealth of insights, which have only become more useful and valuable in the weeks and months since.

Break Free B2B Interview with Mark Bornstein

If you’re interested in checking out a particular portion of the discussion, you can find a quick general outline below, as well as a few excerpts that stood out to us.

• 0:45 - Mark's experience making webinars, and his view on lead gen
• 2:00 - Have we reached the end of MQLs?
• 3:15 - What is an experience and what makes a good one?
• 5:00 - Examples of companies that are getting digital experiences right
• 7:45 - What role will technology play in experiences going forward?
• 10:00 - Are brands becoming more open to moving outside the box?
• 12:00 - Finding and positioning your brand's narrative
• 13:30 - Getting back to opt-in marketing fundamentals
• 16:00 - Where Mark sees the industry going in 2-3 years
• 17:30 - Who is poised to win in the short-term (SMB/verticals vs. enterprise)?
• 20:15 - The value of compassion, empathy and connection
• 24:15 - How can B2B marketers break free?

Susan: So you talk about an experience ... Can you take it a level deeper? What is an experience? Mark: Well, let me tell you about my world. So in the world of webinars, if you think about what a webinar was even a few years ago — and maybe in some cases still now — the webinar was a talking PowerPoint. Just a headless voice, you didn't see anybody. You just heard somebody going through the slides in a droll way and it wasn't branded and it was just boring. And maybe a lot of webinars still are kind of boring. But the fact of the matter is, what we see companies doing now is they're creating serialized programming. They're creating these really cool almost TV-like viewing experiences, where it's a show and there's hosts and the formats are changing. There's panel discussions and coffee talks and chat shows and new style formats. So companies that are trying to own thought leadership, to establish a voice, to be the company that people go to — they’re not going to do that through giving a webinar on, you know, here's our content. Here's our slide presentation. They're doing it by building experiences. And I think a really great experience has a few of the following qualities: It should be completely branded. It should be interactive. I always say give yourself the “what can they do?” test. When somebody is experiencing your content, is this all they can do? They’re reading your ebook or watching your video … is that it? An experience is a place where people can ask questions, or they can chat, or they can tweet, or they can download content. They can click on CTAs. You want to create an environment where people are doing stuff, and it's a multi-touch content experience. And so it's a different thing today. [bctt tweet="“Companies that are trying to own thought leadership, they’re not going to do that through giving a webinar that’s a slide presentation. They're doing it by building experiences.” — @4markb on #BreakFreeB2B #DigitalExperiences" username="toprank"] Susan: We keep hearing that marketing is moving toward AI and tech — in a few years, it'll all be bot-driven. How do you reconcile that with your vision? Mark: One of the things that drives me crazy about marketing in general is that we as marketers are very interesting creatures, in the sense that we're always willing to try new things. But we also get into habits we can't break. And a lot of the technologies — whether it's automation, or artificial intelligence, predictive analytics — all these amazing technologies that have been created to scale our marketing in ways like never before? Well, we are acting like this technology that was created to get people to our marketing has now become our marketing. So you need to look at, you know, artificial intelligence tells us out of this vast infinite number of people who we should be targeting, and maybe some of the topics we should be talking about. We can get a lot of great information. Automation allows us to scale that up in a lot of different ways. But ultimately, there is a moment of engagement. There still is that human engagement. And so all of that technology can inform, but ultimately, what really has to drive that engagement is the conversation that you have with them and the experience that you can deliver.” [bctt tweet="“We are acting like this technology that was created to get people to our marketing has now become our marketing.” — @4markb on #BreakFreeB2B #DigitalExperiences" username="toprank"] Susan: You tweet a lot about marketers not asking for proper permission to opt in. So maybe our prospective buyer has a need, but getting that opt-in and going about it the right way, that’s a big hurdle. Mark: It is. I mean, if you're a marketer in the U.K., you know what this pain feels like. I think especially in the U.S., but really around the globe, marketers are not ready. I don't think they're taking this seriously enough. You know, privacy legislation is in the U.S. now, but it's mostly based on privacy protections. It's not based on opt-ins and that sort of thing yet. It is coming. It is going to happen very soon, people. And so we need to prepare for this, which means we need to build our marketing around this idea of people opting in. So how do we do this? We have to be able to produce streams of programming that people will want to subscribe to, right? It's no longer about nurtures, it's no longer about ‘can you come to my event’ or ‘will you come to this one-off virtual experience or webinar,’ whatever it is. We need to find ways to get people who want our marketing to opt into our marketing. At a time when all of this digital noise is scaring them away. We need to bring them back in through more authentic, more human, more experiential marketing. We're going to get them there.” Stay tuned to the TopRank Marketing Blog and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Break Free B2B interviews. Here are a few interviews to whet your appetite:

• Break Free B2B Marketing: Sruthi Kumar on Creating Memorable Experiences
• Break Free B2B Series: Hal Werner on the Intersection of Marketing Creativity and Analytics
• Break Free B2B Series: Adi Bachar-Reske on Taking the Lead in the Evolution of B2B Content Marketing

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/05/break-free-b2b-marketing-webinerd-mark.html

Why SEO & Influence are Critical to Pandemic Era Content Marketing

The post Why SEO & Influence are Critical to Pandemic Era Content Marketing appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/05/why-seo-influence-are-critical-to.html

How To Start A Blog And Make Money

Are you excited to start your own blog? Starting a blog is one of the best ways to make money, literally from anywhere. The internet has afforded us the freedom to be digital nomads and make an income from anywhere we choose to be in the world. The real truth is that anyone can start a blog in less than 30 minutes, by just buying hosting and installing WordPress. But here lies the actual challenge!

For starters, most people that start a blog may not fathom the amount of work that’s waiting for them. It’s a steep learning curve that will require you to grasp a tremendous amount of information both on the technical side of blogging as well as your creative approach. Today, things are much more sophisticated and not the same as how people made money from blogging years ago. Fortunately, with this sophistication, lies an even higher potential for making money. From choosing a blog niche to a blogging platform and looking at ways to monetize your blog, there are a couple of things you’ll need to understand.

How to Start a Blog

Decide on a Niche and Target Market

Your blog’s niche refers to the general topic of interest that you’ll be focusing your content on. These include topics like fashion, lifestyle, technology, food, travel, etc. For whichever blog niche that you are thinking about, come up with 5 to 10 keyword phrases that you could write about.

Making your blog stand out online and make money requires you to grab the attention of your audience. You obviously can’t do that if in the first place you aren’t aware whose attention you want to grab or what even interests them. Put aside buying a domain name and hosting, if you don’t know who you want to serve then you’ll end up starting a business that serves no one, and this won’t do you any good. Niche choosing with a target market is predominantly one of the crucial reasons why blogs fail.

Some important questions to ask when choosing a niche include;

• What are you passionate in?
• What do you currently do?
• What do other people say you are good at?
• Are there others doing the same thing?
• How strong is the competition?
• Do you have expertise in the niche?
• How will you monetize it?
• How much time and effort would it take to achieve your end goal or make money out of it?

Choose a Reliable Webhost

To get your blog online, you’ll need a blogging platform and a web hosting plan. For instance, if you’re just starting a new blog, you could use a WordPress blog hosted by Bluehost. WordPress is a user-friendly, free and powerful blogging software designed with usability and flexibility in mind.

Your hosting is an integral building block for your blog. It’s kind of like the display rack that’s used in a retail store to showcase products. If your hosting goes down, even temporarily, or it’s not as fast or doesn’t do what you want it to do, then you stand to lose money as well as your audience. It’s important to choose the best hosting service for your blog with security, reliability, speed, flexibility and cost in mind. Alternative blog hosting platforms to consider include, Geekstorage, Siteground, HostGator, Dreamhost and Lyrical host.

When buying hosting, make sure you buy your domain name separately so you can have the control needed to run your site without the interference of your webhost.

Pick a Domain Name

Domain name and web hosting are inseparable. Without a domain name, your blog won’t have an address. Securing your domain name further helps you focus and makes blogging feel all the more real. Take time to think through your domain name and especially aim to use a keyword that represents what your blog is about. Top qualities of a good domain usually are;

• Brandable
• Straightforward
• Easy to pronounce
• Easy to spell
• Not restrictive

Design Your Blog with a WordPress Theme

Design is so important when it comes to your blog. Even if you don’t care for it, your readers will shift their behavior based on the features of your blog layout. In the world of blogging, WordPress designs are called themes. You can always use free themes to design your blog but for extra variety, go for paid themes.

Now you are ready to take on the adventure. Create an about me page to introduce yourself to readers, and most importantly publish your first blog post!

Content is King

Content alone can make or break your blog. If your audience clicks over to your blog post and finds poor, low-quality content, then they won’t be reading, sharing, clicking through links and definitely won’t return to your site. Key to note here is that you have to write about things that your audience is actively searching for and not just the things you love. This you will know by getting to understand what your readers want by reading comments and knowing what they need. Solving a reader’s problem can eventually give tremendous returning traffic. As you consistently create engaging content, your tribe will continue to flock to you. A majority of your blog posts will be born out of your personal experiences, successes, failures, passions and new lessons.

Tip: When looking for clever blog post ideas, consider doing the following;

• Checking out forums like Reddit or Quora for fresh ideas
• Signing up for Google Trends to get top trending news about your niche
• Chatting with bloggers in your space and brainstorming fresh ideas
• Talking about various lessons you have learned
• Reflecting on common blogging mistakes in your niche and tactics that work

Having a simple editorial calendar that provides a roadmap to always knowing what you are writing next is a smart way to prepare for what to publish. A serious blogger needs to prioritize consistency by all means without compromise. Creating content only when it’s convenient can lead you down a dangerous road. Think about it. If you have scheduled a doctor’s appointment in your calendar or even a business meeting with a client, you are going to honor it. If not, you will reschedule for the next available time-slot. The same applies to editorial calendars. Its purpose is to keep you organized and help you reach your end goals more easily in small micro-steps.

Optimize Your Blog for Leads and Sales

How is your blog set up and optimized for search engines? Optimizing your blog for SEO should never be ignored. The main intent of a search engine is to provide value to its users by presenting them with top quality websites that are easy to navigate and with good content. While your blogging platform, especially if it’s WordPress is by default SEO friendly, there are still a number of things to check and change to make it better. These include;

• Blog structure
• URL structure
• Optimizing your category and tag pages
• Website Speed
• Mobile responsiveness
• Webmaster tools SEO
• ML Sitemap optimization
• Use of Schema Markups

As part of your SEO efforts, you should create engaging content for your audience and make this content more visible to search engines. To get your on-page SEO working, you’ll need to do things like;

• Optimizing titles and description
• Use videos, audio or images within your content
• Use proper headings and post formatting
• Apply the best internal linking practices for maximum SEO

You can customize and optimize your blog through the use of plugins that can maximize on your blog’s functionality. For instance, you can use plugins to add contact forms, forums or sliders.

Drive Traffic to Your Blog to Make Money

To make money from your blog, you’ll need organic traffic. It’s, however not all about driving traffic to your site but converting what traffic you get into subscribers, buyers and followers. Well, considering you have made it this far, now is time to promote your content heavily and bring in new readers. Below are some strategies on how to create successful blogs that get you in front of new readers.

Link Building – Link building is an extremely important aspect of getting more traffic from search engines. By having external links from other websites pointing to your website’s pages, you will get to rank higher in the SERPS. The most popular link building methods include;

• Guest posting on relevant and more authoritative sites
• Contacting other bloggers and introducing your website and content
• Linking to other websites from your content and contacting them to let them know. If they find your website useful, they may opt to do the same for you.

Use social media for your blog promotion – From Facebook to Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, LinkedIn, etc., there are a myriad of social media platforms to explore. However, don’t be pressured to promote your blog posts on every social media platform. The key insight here is to experiment yes, but determine the platforms that deliver the best returns/engagement. Pinterest has been mentioned by many bloggers as an effective platform to build a blog. You can create a cohesive profile with branded pin images, and people can get a sneak peek of who you are before going into your blog.

Guest blogging on relevant sites like Quora or LinkedIn – Guest blogging in other authoritative sites in your niche is a sure way to connect with an already established network. So, look for places where your audience is and make your presence felt there, whether it’s on other blogs, communities or social platforms.

Engage in forums and message boards for bloggers – Look for more targeted forums and online communities that relate to your niche on Facebook, LinkedIn or Reddit. Remember the critical thing here is to provide meaningful value before asking for anything in return, so engage and build relationships.

Use an email newsletter to grow your audience further – An email newsletter is a proven and effective way to keep readers engaged and excited about what you do. It’s also a good driver of growth and revenue for any blog. Therefore, begin by building your email list by simply adding a signup form within your posts and across critical pages of your site so that your audience can get updates whenever you post new blog posts or have a resource to share. Consider signing up to an email marketing platform like ConvertKit, Aweber, MailChimp, or InfusionSoft to grow your email list.

While at this, make sure that you are not just collecting emails without nurturing and adding value. Develop a small sequence of emails to keep your audience interest by sending them valuable information. Once they are settled in, send them an offer to a product. This is what marketers refer to as a sales funnel.

Further, other key and creative ways to promote your blog include;

• Interviewing people in your niche
• Networking with other relevant bloggers or mentioning their blogs
• Talking to people about what you’re doing
• Learning from other top bloggers, looking at what works for them and figuring how to use or apply the knowledge.

Blog Monetization

Ultimately, you are out to make money with your blogging. But make no mistake, while this is your eventual goal when getting started, monetization shouldn’t be your number one focus. Building relationships and forming a community around your blog while delivering value should be your priority and starting kicker.

Even still, it’s good to have an idea of how to make money while blogging. When you become well-versed on how to monetize your blog, you end up giving yourself the freedom to blog for the joy of it and the connections and networks come more organically. Let’s dive right in.

Freelancing

If you are looking to generate some income from your blog right away, freelancing is going to be the easiest option by far. To land your first freelancing gig, you’ll need to come up with a strong pitch, build out your key pages (About, Contact, Hire Me) and showcase your work through published posts. So, you may want to get started on creating those sample articles or other deliverables and host them on your blog. Once you get starting attention from brands, it’s important to know your worth. There are so many skills you could sell as a service, whether it’s in writing, design, social media management, photography, virtual assistance, SEO, paid advertising campaigns and more. What are your strengths? Do people struggle with it? Don’t hesitate to market your skills as people will always pay for the service if it means they won’t have to put in the work.

Join Affiliate Marketing Programs

Affiliate marketing is the most passive way to make money with a blog. You get to sell other people’s products (digital or physical) for a commission. With affiliate marketing, you are not only selling but helping people by including links to a product you love/use. Even as a new blogger, you can join affiliate marketing to gain access to top brands across different niches. As your blog grows, so does your potential for income. Here is how the process works;

• Determine the products you would want to promote
• Enroll in their affiliate marketing program to get a unique link and banners to use
• Add the links/banners in your blog

Whenever someone clicks on the links, they will be automatically directed to the provider’s website where they can make a purchase for you to get the agreed commission. There are many affiliate networks that connect bloggers with multiple companies that advertise via affiliate marketing. Among them include;

• Amazon Associates
• FlexOffers
• CJ
• ShareAsale
• ImpactRadius

If you can’t find your product on these networks, shoot the company an email and ask them which affiliate program you could find them.

Ask Your Audience

Another way to make money through blogging is to ask your audience. You can ask your audience to send some feedback at the end of your blog posts or send email blasts with a survey, using Google Forms, to gain valuable information on what your target audience needs. Your audience will most likely give you honest feedback that you can then use to develop a product or service to sell. E.g. a workout plan with targeted topics and routines they would be willing to pay for. Examples of digital products bloggers can create include; e-courses, online classes or workshops, Ebooks, premium content, photos, membership sites, audio or video, apps, plugins and themes, etc.

Sell advertising Space

Literally anyone can put an ad on their blog using Google Adsense. However, good money comes from selling ad spots on your website to corporations or what is commonly known as ad placement. If you build a high traffic blog, you can make a full-time income from this as advertisers will be willing to work with you to get exposure to your audience.

Find Relevant Products and Freebies to Promote/ Sponsored Posts

Here, companies will give a free product and hopefully monetary compensation, and you’ll be expected to highlight that product on your blog.

With so many income stream options in blogging, it’s essential to plan your future revenue-driving strategy with the right forms of monetization techniques. More importantly, note that monetizing a blog takes time and relies on you having some traffic.

And Finally

Start a Blog with the End in Mind

When you choose to invest in a business, you do it with an end in mind. Even when you go to college, you do it with a goal in mind. The same principle applies to blogging. You decide what you want from your blogging business and everything you do between now and your end goal must align with what you are aiming for. Most new bloggers make the mistake of trying random things in the hope they will find one that sticks, only to find themselves burnout before anything actually sticks.

Create and Understand Your Sales Funnel

Understanding your sales funnel is crucial as it helps you find the holes or places where your prospects fall off and never convert. Salesforce reports that a whopping 79% of marketing leads are never converted to sales mainly because 68% of businesses don’t have a clear sales funnel.

Take, for example, a visitor lands on your blog through a Google search or social link. He/she may check out your blog posts or browse your product listings. As a prospect, you may offer him/her a chance to sign up for your email list. If the visitor fills out the form, he/she can be considered as a lead that could potentially return to your site when you contact them with special offers, information about new blog posts, or other intriguing resources. At this point, you will have turned them from casual visitors to someone who is actively engaging with your brand, making it a lot easier to make money from them.

Key to note here is that your customers are on a journey that starts with learning about your business (awareness) and ends with them becoming clients or referring your blog or products to other people in their network.

Have Multiple Streams of Income

If your eventual goal is to make it big moneywise, then consider having multiple streams of income. This means that even if one strategy fails, then you have another to pick up the slack.

Be Adaptable

Successful bloggers continue to educate and update themselves as the world around them evolves. What’s popular and working now may not work in the future. Things change fast online. You, therefore, have to listen to your audience, track your statistics and figure out new ways to grow your blog even when it seems like everything is going wrong.

Conclusion

Starting a blog is incredibly easy. Creating a successful one that makes money requires a smarter approach that includes, hard work, dedication, SEO mastery and consistency. If you are a beginner and not sure how to start your blog, this article can be instrumental in pointing you in the right direction when it comes to creating a profitable blog.

The post How To Start A Blog And Make Money appeared first on HigherVisibility.

The post https://www.highervisibility.com/blog/how-to-start-a-blog-and-make-money/ appeared first on https://www.highervisibility.com

B2B Marketing News: Biggest B2B Differentiators Study, Facebook Buys Giphy, LinkedIn Prepares Stories, & Facebook’s New Video Chat

B2B Decision-Maker Survey: COVID-19's Impact on Marketing, Buying, and Sales 65 percent of enterprise B2B buyers now view online interactions as being more important than traditional vendor conversations, one of several findings of interest to digital marketers contained in newly-released U.S. B2B pandemic response survey data. MarketingProfs Facebook just bought Giphy Facebook has acquired popular animated GIF image platform Giphy in a $400 million move that will likely bring deeper integration with both Facebook-owned Instagram and its messaging features, the social media giant announced.Engadget LinkedIn Stories Is Almost Here: Will It Reinvent the B2B Social Media Landscape? LinkedIn (client) has tested its variation of the popular ephemeral stories format. When rolled out to the Microsoft-owned platform's 690 million users, LinkedIn Stories would bring B2B marketers on the platform a new digital storytelling tool option. MarketingProfs Brand Awareness is Top of Mind in Email Signature Marketing 82 percent of marketers seek brand awareness from email signature marketing, topping the list of objectives in recently-released survey data, which also showed that 48 percent look to drive website traffic via email, while just 19 percent are looking for customer retention, the survey found. MarketingCharts Google is auditioning candidates to succeed the third-party cookie With the use of traditional Web tracking cookies largely being abandoned, Google has continued its testing of the firm’s recently-announced Privacy Sandbox alternative, which still works with the ad auction format, the search giant announced. Digiday ANA Report Finds Most Marketers Have Supplier 'Diversity' Programs, About Half Impact Marketing/Ad Services While some 75 percent of marketing firms incorporate supplier diversity initiatives, just 40 percent is specifically for advertising services, one of several findings of interest to digital marketers in recently-released report data from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). MediaPost Facebook's 'Messenger Rooms' Multi-Participant Video Chat Option is Now Available to All Facebook has launched its Messenger Rooms video messaging feature with a global release that includes up to 50 video participants and the ability to drop in via Facebook’s feed, the firm recently announced. Social Media Today Reddit overhauls ad sales, with a new boss from Pinterest Reddit has tapped a former Pinterest and Google advertising leader in a new move aimed at bringing more brand advertising activity to the platform, a shift that has also seen the firm restructuring its sales team to adjust to changes brought by the global health crisis. Digiday Pandemic Sentiment Shifts From 'Acute' To 'Transitory,' Here's What Consumers Want From Brands Some 56 percent of global consumers say that they now approve of brands advertising primarily as normal, according to recently-released survey data of interest to online marketers. 10 percent of respondents, however, said that they somewhat disapprove of brands returning to normal advertising, while 5 percent strongly disapprove, the survey noted.MediaPost Marketers at B2B Firms Tout the Value of Social Media 37 percent of B2B decision-makers see a brand's social media presence as the biggest online differentiator, according to newly-release survey data, followed by the digital experience and self-service options both at 33 percent, and content marketing and community involvement, both at 31 percent. MarketingCharts ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “communicating in a crisis” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist Freelancer Channels Inner Don Draper to Write $15 Blog for Used Car Dealership — The Hard Times TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• TopRank Marketing — 25 Best Digital Marketing Blogs You Need to Follow in 2020 — Better Business Tools
• Lee Odden — Marketing Through Uncertain Times: Insights From 15 Experts [PDF] — InsightBrief
• Lee Odden — 20 Marketing Experts on Content that Helps Sales Reps Sell - Part 1 — Modus
• Lee Odden — 20 Marketing Experts on Content that Helps Sales Reps Sell - Part 2 — Modus
• Lee Odden and TopRank Marketing — The Definitive List of 2020 Content Marketing Predictions and Other Goodies — UpScribed
• Lee Odden — Social Media in Times of Social Distancing Planable Webinar [VIDEO] — Planable
• TopRank Marketing — 20 Clever Link Building Techniques to Earn High-Quality Backlinks — Kevin Payne
• Lee Odden — 6 Engaging Webinar Formats to Create More Compelling Content — TwentyThree
• TopRank Marketing — 25 Best Digital Marketing Blogs You Need to Follow in 2020 — Better Business Tools

Have you found your own top B2B content marketing or digital advertising stories from the past week of news? Please let us know in the comments below. Thanks for joining us this week, and we hope you'll return again next Friday for more of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news. Also, don't miss the full video summary on our TopRank Marketing TV YouTube Channel.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/05/b2b-marketing-news-biggest-b2b.html

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 [14 Proven Tactics]

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is one of the best ways to get visitors to your website and boost sales in 2020. That’s because more than half of trackable website traffic comes from organic search.

But you might be wondering how you’re supposed to stand out from the crowd now that everybody and their grandmother is optimizing their websites for search.

Unfortunately, Google’s frequent search algorithm updates make it difficult to keep up with the best tactics and strategies. And with SEO becoming a standard part of digital marketing strategies for most businesses, competition is fierce.

In this article, we’re going to help improve your SEO performance for 2020. You’ll learn several up-to-date best practices for crafting an effective SEO strategy for your business. Use these modern practices to reshape your SEO game and propel your business to the top of the search engine results page.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #1: Publish High-Quality Content

Content is the backbone of a successful SEO campaign and the heart of on-page SEO. But you can’t just pop some content on your website and expect it to pay out SEO gold continuously.

You have to update it. Like, a lot.

The reason for that is simple. If you want to drive increased traffic, you have to drive repeat traffic (new and returning visitors). You have to give people a reason to come back.

And Google knows this. Regularly-updated content is essential to scoring big with the world’s largest search engine.

But the content also has to be good.

When we say quality content, we mean a few things:

• Persuasive, engaging writing with no errors.
• New and up-to-date information.
• Copy that is relevant to your business.

It’s also a great idea to repurpose old content, updating it as things change in your business and your industry. Just make sure you’re updating and not repeating. Google hates duplicate content.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #2: Target Keywords People are Searching For

When marketing to your audience, you have to understand how they think, how they shop, and, most importantly, how they search.

You should be able to understand what your target demographic is searching for on Google. That way, you can optimize your pages for those specific key terms.

Using an SEO tool like Google’s Keyword Planner will show you a list of relevant and high-volume target keywords.

Of course, much like the quality content you’ll be writing, the terms that you chase have to be relevant to your business.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #3: Improve The User Experience

Stellar user experience is essential when trying to get your website ranked highly on Google.

Think of it this way. Google is one of the most trusted, known, and respected companies on the planet. When you type a search into Google’s search engine, you’re getting a series of recommendations from Google.

If Google’s number one recommendation was a site that was lacking in content and not user friendly, then Google’s reputation just took a small hit. That’s why Google vets the sites that it lists so thoroughly, taking user experience into account.

So, how do you improve your user experience in a way that will impress both Google and your potential customers?

• Write short easy to read paragraphs
• Include headers throughout your content to make it easier to skim
• Provide images as a visual representation of your content
• Increase the speed of your site. The faster it loads, the lower your bounce rate will be.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #4: Make Your Site Responsive

Your site has to work for mobile devices.

That’s not an opinion; it’s a fact in 2020.

To illustrate, in 2019, 63% of Google’s U.S. searches were done on a mobile device. That means the bulk of searches on the largest search engine in existence are done on phones, tablets, and other mobile-ready devices.

According to the social media tool HootSuite, mobile internet use has been steadily increasing over the last five years.

(Image Source)

As such, you must optimize your site for mobile users. Failure to do so will lose you some significant points with Google.

A lack of mobile functionality is a severe blow to the user experience, which we already covered in the previous section.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #5: Improve Click-Through Rate

You want to make sure that when someone stumbles upon your listing on Google, they’re going to click on your link and follow it to your site.

There are a few ways to ensure that your click-through rate improves.

For starters, you should be writing titles that stand out and make the user want to follow your link. A compelling description and meta description also go a long way toward making a user click on your link. You have to draw them in with compelling optimized copy.

The trick is writing compelling content with limited space. You only have 65 characters for your headline. To make it compelling, you need to:

• Make sure it is optimized with keywords. You should have some of your more important keywords toward the front of your titles and descriptions as people tend to skim content.
• Make sure that you’re painting a clear picture about what you do.
• Try to appeal to some kind of customer pain point to elicit an emotional response.
• You could also always use our CTR Grader which tells you what you need to improve to increase CTR.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #6: Build Backlinks to Your Site

A backlink is a link featured on another website that links back to yours. It is one of the most critical aspects of Search Engine Optimization, and it is where most SEO campaigns fall apart. Another term for backlinks is inbound links.

A backlink is only useful if it comes from a credible source with good standing on Google. But, it also has to be relevant to your industry. If you’re a plumber and you get a backlink from a video game review website, it’s not going to help you.

One of the best ways to create backlinks is to write blog articles about your industry that contain links back to your site and shop those articles around to different sites.

Another way to go about it would be to create linkable assets, something that a person would use as a source when writing an article on your subject. A great example of a linkable asset would be something like an infographic.

You also need to have several internal links on your site. These are links on your site that connect to other pages on your website.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #7: Demonstrate Expertise

Because Google is recommending you to its users, it wants to ensure that you are an expert and that your words have weight and legitimacy.

Google’s algorithm heavily focuses on an acronym called E-A-T. That stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

(Image Source)

You can demonstrate your expertise in a lot of ways. One of the most effective ways of showing that you’re an expert or an authority in your field is by creating blog content. If that blog ends up becoming a linkable resource for others, that works out even better in your favor because it shows Google that other movers and shakers in your industry value your opinion.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #8: Optimize Your Images

Google loves to see that you have images, but unfortunately, that’s all it can see.

By that, we mean that Google’s search bots can’t actually see the content of an image. They can see that an image exists, but they can’t look at a photo of a firetruck and say, “that’s a photo of a firetruck.”

It’s up to us to help them by optimizing images to tell Google’s bots precisely what is on your page. Every image should have a title tag and an alt tag. This is an opportunity for you to write a brief description of the image, featuring a target keyword or two.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #9: Incorporate Other Media

You’re going to need more than just fancy pictures if you want to improve your SEO ranking. There’s a ton of awesome media that you can incorporate onto your site. Google will reward you for it.

Video content should be a central focus of your site. A massive 92% of marketers who are using video on their website say that it is an important part of their overall strategy. What’s more, it’s estimated that by 2021, the average internet user will spend more than 100 minutes per day watching videos online.

(Image Source)

Google owns YouTube, which is the world’s most popular video sharing service. They make it very easy to incorporate YouTube videos onto your site and will reward you for doing so.

There’s also audio content. Consider starting a podcast and featuring it on your site. Podcasting is a valuable medium that people enjoy. Associating your product and page with a podcast will help your brand both with customers and with Google.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #10: Feature Outbound Links

When you use outbound links on your site, you’re able to increase your credibility because you’re citing sources.

It’s one thing to make claims on your site, but it’s another altogether to back them up with facts.

If you were just to say that Barry Bonds has the most career home runs in major league baseball, that’s all well and good. But, if you were to say that Barry Bonds is the all-time home run leader with 762 home runs, backed by a link, you’ve proven yourself more credible.

Google looks for outbound links in your content because they want to make sure that you’re double-checking all of your facts and offering valuable and accurate information to its users.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #11: Fix Broken Links

Google doesn’t like to see broken links. They can seriously hurt your SEO score.

One of the best ways to ensure that you’re featuring strong links is to only link out to authority websites. These don’t tend to go anywhere. However, it is still possible that an article or infographic you’ve linked out to might be taken down, leaving you with a broken link.

It’s important to do periodic link audits on your entire site to ensure that all of your links are live. But that doesn’t mean you have to go page by page clicking on every link.

The website Dead Link Checker works well to check either your entire site all at once or just a single page. What’s more, it’s a totally free service.

By keeping track of your links and making sure that they’re all in working order, you should have no problem avoiding a potentially disastrous SEO pitfall.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #12: Encourage Visitors to Share Content

Sharing is caring, especially when it comes to your website content.

You need a social media presence in the modern business world, and social media is built on the idea of content sharing.

However, social media can also be one of the most significant SEO ranking factors. If people share links to your site on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, your organic search traffic and SEO ranking will go up.

The content that you post, whether it be an infographic or a blog post, should have some kind of social sharing icon included.

It can also help to incentivize sharing. Do some kind of contest where entry requires each participant to share a link on their social media pages.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #13: Set Up a Google Business Page

If you’re trying to improve your local SEO, it’s important to set up a Google My Business page. This is especially true for businesses that have a physical brick and mortar location.

It only takes a few minutes to set up. You add information on your business, including contact info, images, and more. People can also leave reviews for you there.

How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 #14: Monitor Analytics

You need to know how your SEO ranking is doing if your campaign is going to succeed. That’s why we recommend performing an SEO audit and SEO analysis regularly.

It’s important to check your SEO analytics regularly because that’s the only way to know if your efforts are paying off.

If you check your analytics and you’re getting no movement, then your current strategy is not working, and it’s time to try something new.

If you see that you’re steadily rising through the ranks, it means that what you’re doing is the right thing and to stay the course.

One of the best ways to do this is by using Google Analytics. It can quickly become one of your best SEO tools.

Conclusion

By utilizing these proven modern SEO tips and best practices, your business will be able to compete more effectively on the SEO battlefield and drive more traffic onto your website from Google.

Search engines can be a powerful tool for a business, but in order to use this tool, you have to know how it works.

Spend some time implementing the action items on this list. These are proven strategies — ways that businesses like yours are already succeeding. When implemented correctly, they can help land your website at the top of search results. The first step is an SEO audit to understand where you currently are and how you can improve.

If you’re still unsure where to start or all of this sounds like a bit too much to handle on your own, take a look at some of the SEO services we have to offer at Higher Visibility and how we can help improve your website’s SEO.

The post How to Improve Your SEO in 2020 [14 Proven Tactics] appeared first on HigherVisibility.

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How to Measure Changing Marketing Goals During a Crisis

In recent months, I’ve been listening to Paramore’s song “Hard Times” a lot. Their 2017 hit talks about struggling to overcome challenging circumstances above '80s-inspired new wave pop. It’s a bop, as the kids say, and confronts hardship — truthful and emphatic with a spoonful of sugar. via GIPHY During this global health crisis, I’m sure most marketers want to wake up fine, be told that they’re alright, and — in their weakest moments — have “wonder[ed] why [we] even try.” While we have no control over the state of the world, we do have control over how we react or work in tandem with it. With data, we get a glimpse into how our respective markets have been impacted, and it can inform a new perspective and next steps. Let’s take a look at how the pandemic affects data and analytics, and if B2B marketers need to shift their pre-pandemic goals.

Examine Pre- & Post-Crisis Data, Then Decide If Goals Need Updating

This may be the first time in our lifetimes where the whole world is going through the same crisis, but that doesn’t mean that all businesses are being affected in the same way. Some businesses within industries like tech, religious goods, home improvement, and health and fitness are finding themselves in higher demand. Other industries see buyers backing away from the table or putting processes on hold, waiting for more certain times. Since stay-at-home orders across the U.S. started in early March, we now have enough data to see how this time has impacted shopping and purchasing. We can examine market trends — for example, has search volume around your target keywords changed since March? If so, how? Look at website traffic and revenue data for the last 90 days and compare it to pre-crisis and average or seasonal data. It should be evident whether your business is growing or slowing. via GIPHY Both camps can benefit from an update in goals. I say “update” rather than “pivot” because sales expectations haven’t disappeared. The journey has just changed. Businesses that are experiencing increased demand want to become as visible and available to their customers as possible while supplies last, while those with the short end of the stick want to mitigate sales losses and prepare for the end of the crisis. An update to marketing goals may bring changes to strategies, which brings changes to how we measure performance. [bctt tweet="“Sales expectations haven’t disappeared. The journey has just changed.” @birdie_zepeda" username="toprank"]

Ensure Your Approach Fits Updated Goals

For Sales-Centric Goals

SEO

As shared in a previous SEO for B2B Marketers post, we are seeing reports that both B2B and B2C brands have seen increases in website traffic, improving 13 percent in March 2020 compared to February, according to HubSpot benchmark data. Buying online is even more popular and many users are using search engines to find online stores. Consequently, those with sales-centric goals should focus on optimizing landing pages with high conversion rates and that target keywords for the bottom of the sales funnel (i.e. Intent, Purchase, and Customer Loyalty).

Content

Even if growing brand awareness isn’t the primary target of your updated crisis goals, it’s important to update copy to reflect the tone of current times. Customers or clients may not want to partner with someone who isn’t acknowledging that the way of the world has changed, even though it may be temporary. This allows for the opportunity to ensure high trafficked pages have calls to action that are relevant for visitors that navigate or land there. That way, you can help customers best find what they’re searching for during this time.

Paid Advertisements

Similar to SEO efforts, focusing on search queries or campaigns that are high converters or at the bottom of the funnel can make the most of your ad spend. If possible, consider increasing ad spend where you’re already seeing great returns.

For Branding-Centric Goals

via GIPHY We’re seeing marketers anticipate longer sales cycles by shifting focus from explicit sales to brand awareness for when the crisis begins to settle, so that customers and clients think of your business first when they’re ready to act. For example, just because I can’t travel right now doesn’t mean I’m not dreaming of being on a beach or visiting my family once travel restrictions are lifted!

Content & Influencer Marketing

Content with a distinct voice is at the center of any brand awareness campaign. It supports SEO efforts by creating content for gaps in coverage of top- and middle-of-funnel search queries. It builds credibility and thought leadership when paired with industry leaders and influencers. As audiences become more skeptical of brand marketing and tired of in these uncertain times, we're here for you ads, unique content can build relationships. Find your voice and work to make it stand out and provide value to your audience.

SEO

Identifying keywords and optimizing content for the top and middle of the sales funnel (such as: Awareness, Discovery, and Evaluation) supports brand awareness efforts and can help you reach sales goals without coming off as “salesy.” While your customer may not be ready today, you’re proactively helping them make a buying decision.

Paid Advertisements

If you find your budget is smaller, target smarter. Are there geographies that are or aren’t buying? Can your targeting better reflect your converting demographic? Can you focus on keywords or tactics that have a better return on advertising spend (ROAS)? If you find your budget is unchanged or has even increased, don’t be afraid to try new tactics to gain visibility. This can come in the form of display campaigns, social media promotions, or commercials on digital media platforms. [bctt tweet="“Content with a distinct voice is at the center of any brand awareness campaign. It supports SEO efforts by creating content for gaps in coverage of top-and-middle-of-funnel search queries.” @birdie_zepeda" username="toprank"]

Measurement for New Times (KPIs)

Organic Search & Content Marketing

• increase in impressions
• improvement in ranking/position for target keywords
• increase in organic traffic
• increase in conversions

Paid Advertisements

• improved ROAS
• increased click-through rates (CTR)
• increase in conversions

Social Media or Influencer Marketing

• increase in impressions
• increase in engagement
  • likes, shares
• brand mentions in social and earned media
• referral traffic to website from social

Hard Times Feeling Easier?

via GIPHY These hard times are trying, but we hope in covering this topic that times start to feel a bit easier. If hard times were to be easier with some extra support or guidance, reach out to TopRank Marketing to learn how we can help.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/05/how-to-measure-changing-marketing-goals.html